Tag: secondary

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Thinking Outside the Box

One of my kids’ favorite books is called Not A Box by Antoinette Portis. A small rabbit demonstrates just how many things a simple box can be and proves that it can be anything your imagination allows. “It’s not a box!” has become a favorite saying at our house any time we have an empty box that one of our kids wants to create something with. Kids are so creative and have the best imaginations, and it’s fun to watch what they can come up with. 

You don’t have to have an empty box to get creative, though! Creativity can be sparked with next to nothing. Sometimes all it takes is setting out some paper, scissors, and glue. If you’re feeling adventurous, you might throw in an empty paper towel tube, some string, or even some pipe cleaners/chenille stems. I’ve even handed my kids a paper with just a few different lines on it, and they’ve turned those lines into a masterpiece. Simply put, you really don’t have to go crazy to give kids an opportunity to get creative. It really doesn’t take a lot. 

My kids have all had the same kindergarten teacher, and she has a “creation station” set up in her room. In it are bins of scrap paper, stickers, strings, etc. that are open for students to use. My kids have come home with the coolest creations that they’ve made. If you have space in your classroom, perhaps you might consider setting up your own version of a creation station. It doesn’t need to be fancy, but it would give students a place to create. If space is limited, or you have older students who might not be interested in gluing and taping paper together, consider providing some other kinds of creative outlets– coloring pages, color by number, origami, and so forth. You can also print off the circle and line art pages below and have them available for students to use. Or, if you’re a parent and need something to entertain your kiddos this summer, print off the pages and see what they come up with! You could even give it a try yourself!

Creativity is so important. Our brains were made to imagine, create, and problem solve. If we foster that natural need early on, and continue to do so, just imagine what kinds of amazing outcomes we will see! 

** These worksheets are for classroom or personal use only. Do not resell, re-post, or claim as your own. **

Circle and Line ArtDownload
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Classroom Supplies– What You Really Need

Now that the Fourth of July has come and gone, nearly every store has started to fill its shelves with school supplies. There’s still plenty of summer left to be had, but with school starting next month in many places, it’s a good time to start thinking about what you will need for your classroom this coming school year. 

A lot of schools will pay for and provide basic classroom needs, like pencils, crayons, glue, and scissors, and teachers are typically given a limited budget that they can use to purchase other needs throughout the year. However, many teachers still end up using their own money to purchase supplies and other things for their students. With supplies now being readily available and even on sale, it’s a great time for teachers to start purchasing what they will need, especially first time teachers. 

If you’ve never had to stock up a classroom, it can be hard to know what is essential, what’s nice to have, and what you can probably do without. Before buying anything, check with the principal or financial secretary at your school to see what will be provided for you and what kind of budget you have to work with. It’s also a smart idea to take inventory of your classroom– see what you have, what you’re running low on, and what you don’t have. A lot of schools have overstock rooms, too, where you might find some larger items like shelves, chairs, etc. that are up for the taking. Basically, do your research so you don’t end up spending money you don’t need to! Below are some ideas of supplies you might need to have a successful school year. 

*Not every teacher will need all of these items. Needs will vary from grade to grade and between content areas.*

  • Basic supplies: pencils, pens, glue sticks/bottles, crayons, markers, pencil sharpeners, construction paper, lined filler paper, erasers, pencil boxes, rulers, ziploc storage bags, and tape
  • Folders for each student to send homework and notes in to and from school and home
  • Spiral or composition notebooks for each student for note taking or journal writing
  • Dry erase markers and erasers– for the teacher and a set for students if you have miniature boards for your students to use
  • Colored marking pens or markers for grading papers
  • Sticky notes
  • Paper clips and binder clips
  • Staplers and staples
  • Push pins
  • Magnets– these are great to use for hanging papers on white boards! Magnetic hooks can also be helpful.
  • File folders and manila folders for paper storage
  • Some kind of lanyard or key ring for your school keys and ID card
  • Sticker labels
  • Sorting baskets for student work
  • Grade level books– a classroom library is essential, and can be useful in any grade or content
  • Timers– visual timers are great for younger grades. You can also find great timers on YouTube that can be displayed on your projector!
  • Cleaning wipes– nothing says “back to school” like a cold. Keep your room as germ free as possible by giving it routine wipe downs.
  • Student rewards– stickers, small toys, small candies, sticky hands, fidget toys, etc.
  • Clicker to connect your projector to your computer so you can easily wander the room while teaching.
  • Hall passes
  • Posters and other decor related to your grade level and content– make your room a fun, inviting place to be, and make it your own!
  • Air freshener or odor neutralizer– I especially found this helpful when teaching junior high! 
  • Paper lesson planner– it might seem silly in today’s digital world, but sometimes it just helps to have your plans written down somewhere!
  • “Emergency Kit” for your desk– keep your essentials close by: chapstick, ibuprofen or acetaminophen, antacids, hair ties, gum or mints, cough drops, bandages, extra feminine hygiene supplies, lotion, and quick snacks.
  • Desk organizer to keep your pens and pencils contained.
  • Other nice to have, but not necessary things might include a personal laminator, standing desk, or paper cutter.

Phew! What a list! As mentioned before, not every teacher will need all of these items. Always check your classroom to see what you need before you spend money. Setting up a classroom can be so much fun. Enjoy making your space your own, and be sure to make your room a safe, inviting place for your students to come to!

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Happy Birthday, America! 250 Looks Good On You!

I’m a big believer that birthdays ought to be celebrated and seen as a special occasion rather than treated like “just another day.” I mean, it’s a day to celebrate and honor the gift of someone or something being part of this world, so shouldn’t it be treated as something special? As we get closer to Independence Day, I’ve thought a lot about America and the fun things we do to celebrate her every year– fireworks, parades, festivals, concerts, barbeques with family and friends, and other kinds of get togethers with people we love. There are so many ways to celebrate our wonderful country!

Besides taking an entire day to celebrate America’s birthday, it’s fun to find engaging and educational activities for our students or kids to do in the days leading up to the Fourth of July. This year is even more special because America is turning 250 years old– and that’s really something to celebrate! Below you will find a collection of ideas you can use with your own children or with your students if school is still in session for you! These activities can be used and adapted for many ages.

  • Patriotic sensory bins- Use food coloring to dye white rice red and blue, then the three colors of rice together to create a red, white, and blue sensory base. Add in plastic stars, beads, coins, and miniature flags to make a fun patriotic themed sensory bin.
  • Print off and use the patriotic word scramble or I-Spy page found here.
  • Take a drive around town and keep tally of all the flags you can see as you drive. You could even create a “worksheet” to use before hand with space to tally how many flags you find of different sizes (small, medium, and large).
  • Teach your kids or students about the significance of the Declaration of Independence. For older kids, go into more depth about the meaning behind some of the most powerful phrases from the document.
  • Learn about the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
  • Have students write a “break up letter” from America to England, including what England did to cause the break up.
  • Research Independence Day celebrations from across the country. Talk about the different ways people celebrate the birth of our nation.
  • Read the words to the Pledge of Allegiance together and talk about what they mean. Do the same for the National Anthem.
  • For older kids, have them create some sort of artistic representation of what makes America who she is. Is it the people? The food? Music? Landscape? 
  • Create a timeline of events that lead up to Americans declaring independence.
  • Have students write a letter to America from England begging for forgiveness and to come back, including promises to change the things that had driven Americans away.
  • Take a look at this post to find more patriotic ideas!

Happy Independence Day! We hope you enjoy celebrating this great nation and that you enjoy the time with those you love!

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Bringing Real Life to the Classroom

As teachers, we have the honor and privilege of helping our students develop critical thinking skills as well as other skills that will help prepare them for their futures. We can create meaningful and lasting impacts on our students by being intentional about what we teach. The 7 Cs of Education provide teachers with seven important areas to teach to help our students be good thinkers, good students, and good humans. We’ve covered six of the seven so far: Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, Computer Literacy, and Cross-Cultural Understanding. The final “C” is kind of a culmination of the previous six, and encompasses a lot of aspects of each previous “C”. The seventh and final “C” of education is Career and Life Skills.

So much of what we do and teach in the classroom can be classified as a career and/or life skill. Thinking critically, learning to collaborate, and learning to effectively communicate are all great skills for students to learn, as they are skills they will use as they become adults and enter the workforce. Becoming computer literate is also an essential skill to have in today’s digital world. While these skills are often easy to naturally integrate into our curriculum as we teach other information, others must be a bit more intentionally taught. Skills like how to write a resume, create a budget, and how to sew on a button typically aren’t seamlessly blended in with group projects or essays. 

Learning life skills can be something new and fun for students. It’s out of the norm, and is a fun change of pace. It’s easy to see real world application of these kinds of skills, which makes them more motivating to learn. Below are some fun ways to incorporate life and career skills into our teaching:

  • Have students fill out a job application.
  • Students can learn and practice the basics of resume writing.
  • Let students design their “ideal” life– house, car, job, etc. Then have them research how much money their job would bring in, and have them calculate if it would be enough to support the lifestyle they want. Be sure they include the cost of utilities, cell phone, groceries, and any other “extras”. This is an eye opening activity, especially for high schoolers. 
  • If you’re a sewing teacher, teach students the basics of sewing on a button, mending a tear, or hemming pants.
  • Have students do mock interviews– ask other teachers and school employees to come conduct the interviews.
  • Let students practice making a phone call to make an appointment. This is something that scares a lot of people, but is a great skill to practice!
  • Ensure students know how to properly address an envelope.
  • Help students plan and make simple meals or snacks.
  • Assign students some questions to ask to another classmate. No texting, no emailing. Just good old face to face communication. You’d be surprised at how difficult this is for some kids who are used to doing all communication through their devices.
  • Help students learn how to place an online order.
  • In science class, teach students what chemicals can and cannot go together– some chemicals are very toxic when mixed.

When students can see real life application for what they are learning, they become so much more invested in their education. It’s important that we help our students become the best learners they can be. To do this, we must expose them to a variety of subjects, skills, ideas, and processes. The 7 Cs of Education provide a great outline of skills to teach to our students– skills that will not only help them succeed in school, but in the “real world” as well.

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Are Specialty Classes Really Worth It?

Learning to play the recorder in 4th grade was one of the highlights of my elementary school years (though I’m sure my parents weren’t quite as enthusiastic as I was). I remember proudly bringing home my instrument and music book, and squeaking out “Hot Cross Buns” every night as my family covered their ears and pretended to be impressed. I was sure I was going to be the best recorder player there ever was. Turns out I was definitely not the best recorder player, nor was I anywhere close to being so! But even though my recorder playing skills have greatly diminished, and I no longer have the need to play the instrument, the time I spent learning and practicing wasn’t wasted time. Rather, it was time spent learning a new skill, understanding basic music theory, and learning to devote time to practice every day. 

Every now and then, there will be a push to end all “specialty” classes in schools– classes like music and art. Usually the reasoning is lack of funding, lack of resources, or a shortage of qualified teachers. All of those are valid reasons to cut programs, but one must consider the impact of eliminating programs like these. Is it worth the fallout that comes when students don’t have access to these classes? Is the money that would be saved really significant enough that it’s worth putting these programs on the chopping block? I would guess that the majority of teachers would say that it’s not worth it, and that these specialty programs should stay. 

There are so many benefits to providing art and music education. Both areas have been proven time and time again to stimulate parts of the brain that simply are not reached as deeply by typical academic subjects. Music and art encourage creativity. They provide opportunities for students to express themselves. For many students, music and/or art becomes therapeutic. It becomes a way for them to express their feelings and emotions. Music and art are powerful tools. 

Many students don’t have access to formal art or music education outside of school. Extra curricular classes like these can get expensive, making it impossible for many families to provide those opportunities for their children. When these programs are available at school, however, it gives everyone an equal chance to learn in these areas, and that’s simply something that cannot be ignored. 

Art and music education also benefit students by crossing over into other content areas. Students who understand rhythm and beat might have an easier time learning poetry. Art education can stimulate the creative process, helping students think deeper and more critically. Art can also lean into history as students study different artists and styles of art. Various artistic techniques can be used when creating dioramas, presentations, posters, and models. Music can be incredibly useful as students memorize material for other classes by creating songs with the information they need to know. 

So yes, these extra programs do cost money. But the benefits far outweigh the costs. How can you put a price on something that does so much good? I don’t think you can. I don’t think you can accurately predict the lasting impact that these kinds of specialty programs can have on kids. They are invaluable, and absolutely should remain in schools. I cannot even imagine a world without art and music– both bring so much beauty to life!

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Encouraging Cultural Understanding

Imagine attending school in a place that is foreign to you, or hearing kids in the halls say cruel or incorrect things about your family’s culture. Imagine knowing that your people played an important role in a historical event, only to have their impact brushed over or even completely ignored by your history teacher. Situations like this happen all too often, but as teachers, we can make a change by including instruction about diverse cultures into our curriculum. By using the sixth “C” of the 7 Cs of education, cross-cultural understanding, we can help our students understand different cultures and people. 

Cross-cultural understanding can be taught in many ways. The goal of creating understanding about other cultures is to help students see that everyone has value, and that everyone’s story is important. Including cross-cultural instruction may look different to each content area and from grade to grade, but is equally important across the board. Cross-cultural education might look like any of the following:

  • Culturally Responsible Teaching: use current events to connect events from the past to things that are happening today. This helps students to see that we can all benefit from and learn from the past. It helps events from the past feel less distant and foreign.
  • Integrating cultural understanding into curriculum: teach your students about different cultures and people. Highlight their unique traditions and customs. Include all parties when teaching about historical events. 
  • Invite students to teach: When appropriate, invite students to “show and tell” about their family’s culture or history. If you have a student with Italian ancestry, invite them to teach the class about some of their family’s traditions. Perhaps you have a student who has family ties to Ghana, Japan, or Brazil. Give them an opportunity to share about their culture.
  • Model good listening: when others are sharing about their culture or another culture, show your students what good listening looks like. This will help them to respect others’ values, beliefs, and traditions.
  • Read books that have characters from all sorts of various backgrounds. This helps students to realize that situations, feelings, and life events are universal to all people and cultures.
  • Invite students to choose a country to learn more about. Have them share their findings with the class, and encourage them to involve the class in some aspect of what they’ve learned– learn a dance, try food from that place, or even learn some words from the language spoken by the people of that country.
  • Invite guest speakers to come into your classroom. Perhaps you have a Native American student whose father does hoop dancing that would be willing to come show students some dances. When teaching about ancient Egypt, invite a historian to come in and show artifacts. If you are learning about different kinds of art from around the world, invite an artist to come in and demonstrate one of the types of art you’ve learned about.
  • If you have a student who is from another country, take time to help the rest of the class understand more about that student’s country. Invite the student to share more about their culture.

However you choose to integrate it, culturally diverse instruction benefits all students. Cross cultural understanding can help to bring people together and can help students see that much of the human experience is universal. Perhaps the most important lesson of cross-cultural education is that all people matter, all cultures are important, all stories need to be shared, and all voices deserve to be heard.

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Summer Reading Challenge

Getting kids to read over the summer can be a challenge. When the sun is shining and friends are out playing, reading is often the last thing on their list of things to do. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a teacher and a mom, it’s that it is always worth the effort to get kids to read. I don’t think I’ve ever said to myself, “Man, I wish I wouldn’t have had my kids read today!” Reading is always a good idea, and will always help to boost reading skills. 

Trying to find a way to encourage kids to read when it’s not for a grade can be tricky, especially for reluctant readers, but since many kids are externally motivated when it comes to “extra” learning opportunities, sometimes it helps to make it a fun experience. Offer a reward for every 5 books they read. Let them pick a book or two at the library. Let them read in a place they normally wouldn’t read. Make it fun and engaging so that it draws them in and creates an excitement for reading time. 

To help you with this, I’ve created a reading challenge you can print off and send home with your students, or print off and use with your own children. The “Summer Reading Race” is geared toward elementary aged kiddos, and the “Tic-Tac-Toe” is geared toward secondary aged kiddos, though both could be adapted for any age. 

These free resources are for classroom or personal use only. They cannot be sold, reposted, or claimed as your own.

Summer Reading Race- ElementaryDownload
Summer Reading Race- SecondaryDownload